Isatou Ceesay
Isatou Ceesay is a Gambian environmental activist and social entrepreneur.[1][2][3] Her work convinced two countries, The Gambia and Senegal, to ban plastic bags in 2015.[1] She is the Director of the Gambia Women’s Initiative (WIG).[4] She began teaching women in her village to recycle trash.[4][5][2] They made bags that people could reuse many times.[2][4] Ceesay worked with more and more women.[6] Now, she helps women all over The Gambia start businesses that let them earn money to live.[4][6][3] Ceesay received the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2011 and the International Alliance for the Defense of Women Award in 2012.[4][7] Miranda Paul wrote a book about her in 2015.[4] It is titled One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of The Gambia.[4]
Ceesay was always bothered by garbage around her village, N'Jau.[4][7] The garbage harmed the environment and the people and animals living there.[4] Old plastic bags were one of the most common kinds of trash.[5] Ceesay and several other women started the Njau Recycling and Income Generating Group in 1997.[3][1][4] A Peace Corps worker from the United States also helped.[5] Her name is Peggy Sedlak.[4] Together they figured out how to clean plastic bags. They cut them into strips of "plarn" (short for "plastic yarn") and crochet them into reusable items.[6] Their nonprofit also helped women earn money by selling the purses and other items they made from old plastic bags.[4]
Some people in their village did not like their organization.[4] Some people thought it was embarrassing to sort trash to find plastic bags.[4] Other people did not like women earning money for their families.[4] They thought earning money was work for men.[4] The Recycling Centre kept doing its work anyway.[4]
A Swedish non-profit called Future In Our Hands hired Ceesay in 2009.[4] Her new job allowed Ceesay to work all over the country.[4] Ceesay used her relationships all over The Gambia to also spread the Recycling Center's ideas to over seventy-five communities around the country.[1][6] The Recycling Center later changed its name to The Gambia Women’s Initiative.[4] It now helps women earn money to live by creating different businesses.[5] The businesses are usually environmentally sustainable.[5] Gambia Women’s Initiative has trained more than 5000 women.[1][6] It is also the longest-running grassroots organization in The Gambia.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Tousignant, Marylou (2020-03-02). "Women environmental activists are nothing new" (in en-US). The Washington Post. . https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/women-environmental-activists/2020/03/02/bd4d39d0-53fb-11ea-b119-4faabac6674f_story.html. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gankin, Sasha (2018-08-31). "Gambian social entrepreneur Isatou Ceesay makes fashion from plastic" (in en-GB). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/45358683. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Webster, Mike (2014-05-01). "How a small African recycling project tackles a mountainous rubbish problem" (in en-GB). The Guardian. . https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/01/small-african-recycling-project-tackling-mountainous-rubbish-problem. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 Mwenda, Mike (2023-03-30). "'Queen of Recycling' Isatou Ceesay fights plastic pollution in The Gambia". LifeGate. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Isatou Ceesay". www.fundacionbancosantander.com. Retrieved 2025-04-30.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Paul, Miranda (2023). "FROM ONE PLASTIC BAG TO 1,100 TREES: How Isatou Ceesay created an umbrella of environmental solutions in The Gambia". RSA Journal. 169 (3(5594)): 36–39. ISSN 0958-0433.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Grigoryan, Sofia (2023-06-02). "Isatou Ceesay: The Queen of Recycling". ArcGIS StoryMaps. Retrieved 2025-04-30.[dead link]